West Potomac High School

Coordinates: 38°46′29.87″N 77°4′20.55″W / 38.7749639°N 77.0723750°W / 38.7749639; -77.0723750

West Potomac High School, formerly Groveton High School, is a public high school in Fairfax County, Virginia. It is located on 6500 Quander Road and is part of Fairfax County Public Schools.

History

West Potomac High School was formed by combining the student bodies and staff of Groveton and Fort Hunt High Schools in 1985. The Fairfax County School Board, citing costs and declining enrollment as causes, decided to close Fort Hunt and combine the schools on Groveton's site under a new name.

The school's facilities have been expanded significantly since the merger, with two wings added to the main building over the intervening years. The old Groveton High School on Popkins Lane (opened in 1956) houses the Bryant Alternative High School; the site of Fort Hunt High school (opened in 1963) became Carl Sandburg Middle School. The new Groveton High School was built on the site of the former Bryant Intermediate School and opened in 1976.

In its inaugural year, the school adopted the motto "The Tradition Begins Now". After several years, it was modified to "Excellence is a Tradition". A rivalry with neighboring Mount Vernon High School exists because of their close proximity. Historically Groveton and Ft. Hunt were rivals, Groveton also was an athletic rival with nearby TC Williams High School in Alexandria; their football games for a very long time were only scheduled on Saturday afternoons rather than Friday nights partly because the field at TC Williams had no lights. The 1971 Groveton vs TC Williams game was portrayed in the movie "Remember the Titans".

Demographics

In the 2011-12 school year, West Potomac High School's student body was 41.53% White, 21.24% Black, 25.81% Hispanic, 7.62% Asian and 3.81% Other.^[2]

Sports

In the 2003 season, Mens & Women's crew team had their 1st and 2nd 4 man boat place 1st in the Virginia state championship.

In the 2004-05 season, the boys track team won the regional title. In the 2008-09 season, the boys track team remained the AAA Patriot District champions for the 8th year in a row, while the girls track team moved up to the second place standing, behind Lake Braddock Secondary School.

West Potomac won Virginia AAA football championships in 1989 and 1990.^[3] The Wolverines also won state championships in girls cross country in 1989 and 1990.^[3] The West Potomac It's Academic team won first place in the Patriot District and fourth in the region in January 2008.

In 2011, the girls' varsity field hockey team advanced to regionals for the first time in years after a victory over W.T. Woodson High School in the first round of playoffs. The varsity football team was the Patriot District champion and advanced several rounds into regionals before a marginal loss to Westfield High School.

In 2012, the school's Dance Team qualified for the National Dance Association competition in Orlando, Florida. The Boys Tennis team advanced to the Northern Region Quarterfinal for the first time in 20 years. The girls varsity lacrosse team advanced several rounds into regionals before losing to Centreville High School in the Northern Region Quarterfinal.

In 2013, senior Will Rupp won the Virginia State AAA Wrestling Championship for the 220 lb weight class.

Academic Honors

The West Potomac Science Olympiad team placed 9th at the 2010 Virginia State Tournament with individual event-teams winning 3rd Place in Mission Possible and a 5th Place in Disease Detectives.^[4] And since the school's founding in 1985, West Potomac has fielded 3 state championship debate teams.^[5] In 2009 a student was 2nd in the AIAA/NCS Aerospace(Science Fair) awards^[6] and a West Potomac sophomore won a top award at the 2010 Fairfax County Regional Science and Engineering Fair.^[7] At the 2009-2010 VHSL State Debate Tournament a duo-team were named Semi-Finalists in the Virginia State Debate Tournament/Classic(AAA) Division.^[8]

Music

In recent years West Potomac has been a recipient of the Virginia Honor Band award from the Virginia Band and Orchestra Director's Association for superior ratings in concert band and marching band. Also the West Potomac Symphonic Winds attended the Bands of America event in Indianapolis in March 2010, accompanied by the West Potomac Percussion Ensemble.

West Potomac's choral department includes the Bella Voce and Colonial Singers (known as the Chamber Singers as of fall 2011). Each year, West Potomac choirs participate in a competitive event known as Choral festival.

Theatre

Beyond the Page Theatre Company^[9] is the name of West Potomac's theatre department. Its declared mission is "to bring the very best of high school theatre to the West Potomac community." Since its formation its productions have both been nominated and have received numerous awards^[10][11] as part of the Cappies program.^[12][13] Typically the Beyond the Page Theatre Company performs three mainstage shows each year, a small musical in the fall, a play in the winter, and a big musical in the spring. In addition to presenting three mainstage productions, the company also holds a non-competitive One-Acts festival every year to showcase the theatre classes. All mainstage productions are directed by the company's director, Phillip Lee Clark, and the one acts are mostly student directed. The Beyond the Page Theatre Company typically participates in the annual Virginia High School League's One-Act Festival (or VHSL) and the Virginia Theatre Association Conference (commonly known as VTAs). In the summer of 2013, the company participated in the Capital Fringe Festival and performed an original, student written piece, "Urban Legends.^[14][15][16]" In 2013, the company took its production of "Avenue Q" to VTA's and received an Honorable Mention and an award for Best Ensemble. The company performed their interpretation of "The Tempest" in the annual High School Folger Festival In 2014, The Company was nominated to participate in the American High School Theatre Festival^[17] as part of the highly acclaimed Edinburgh Festival Fringe.^[18] In addition to presenting One Acts Festivals and mainstage productions, they hold monthly improv competitions^[19] and have their own team called "The Great Whales." In the 2013-2014 season, the team was undefeated.

Notable alumni

• Diedrich Bader — actor, The Drew Carey Show, Office Space. (attended Groveton High School, graduated from T. C. Williams High School)
• Donna Dixon — Actress, Miss Virginia USA, 1976, and wife of Dan Aykroyd. (Groveton High School graduate, 1975)^[20]
• Tiombe Hurd, 1991 — 2004 Olympian who holds the American record in the triple jump^[21]
• Christian Johnson - Arena Football League player
• Micah Johnson — American football player, University of Kentucky. (Transferred to Fort Campbell High School in Fort Campbell, KY in 2004, graduated in 2006.)
• General James L. Jones USMC - Commandant, US Marine Corps 1999-2003; Supreme Allied Commander, Europe 2003-06; National Security Advisor to President Obama 2009-10 (Groveton High School graduate,1962)^[22]
• Michelle Madison, 1989 – Model, television personality, TV Guide Network.
• Willie Pile, 1998 — Professional American football player (Kansas City Chiefs, Dallas Cowboys)^[23]
• Ashley Wagner — Figure skater, 2012 and 2013 US National Champion, member of 2014 US Winter Olympics team
• Scott Surovell - Member of Virginia House of Delegates
• Scott Shenker - Professor of Computer Science at UC Berkeley, Vice President of the International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley, California. (Groveton High School graduate, 1974)
• Stephen Shenker - American theoretical physicist. (Groveton High School graduate, 1970)
• Jube Shiver Jr. - American Journalist and entrepreneur
• Hannah Graham - British American who went missing on September 13, 2014. She was the subject of an investigation and was later found dead.

References

External links

• West Potomac Wire
• Groveton High School Alumni Association
• http://westpotomacsports.org/library/files/WolverinesAthletics/files/WABC%20Spring%202012%20Newsletter%20-%20Final.pdf